Carrie Underwood returns to the No. 1 show on prime-time television Sunday, only this time it's NBC's Sunday Night Football, not American Idol.

Underwood has recorded a new version of the Sunday Night Football theme song, Waiting All Day for Sunday Night, taking over from Faith Hill, whose version was used for six seasons.

"Obviously, we wanted to make it sound like me, but we definitely wanted to bring a fun edge to it," Underwood says of recording the theme, a rewrite of Joan Jett's 1988 rock hit I Hate Myself for Loving You. "I mean, people are getting ready to watch a big football game. I know I'm known for some big notes, but it was more about just bringing the energy."

Underwood has always had an '80s-rock streak to her country sound, covering Guns 'N Roses and Skid Row in concert and recording a version of Mötley Crüe's Home Sweet Home that was used on Idol, a competition she won in 2005.

Though Underwood's known in Nashville as a hockey fan — she married Nashville Predators forward Mike Fisher in 2010 — the Oklahoma native grew up with a football diet heavy on the Dallas Cowboys and the Kansas City Chiefs. "We didn't have cable," she says, "so you liked one of them, either Dallas or the Chiefs."

In 2012, Sunday Night Football averaged 21 million viewers each week, according to Nielsen, beating Idol, which had been the most-watched prime-time show for eight previous years.

"It's wonderful to be in front of an audience that might be a little different for me and to be a part of football season," says Underwood, who sang the national anthem for Super Bowl XLIV in 2010. "I love football season. I love people tailgating. I love people getting together to watch games. We always have people over to watch games at our house. So just to be able to stay a little bit a part of that is awesome."

Underwood, 30, will keep a high profile on television throughout the fall. She'll co-host The CMA Awards on ABC in November; nominations for those awards will be announced Tuesday. She also has the lead in a live production of The Sound of Music that will air on NBC on Dec. 5.

"Right now, I'm working a lot of on my own, memorizing lines, working on the music with help," she says. "I don't want it to sound like Carrie Underwood, country singer, singing The Sound of Music. I really want to do the part justice, the way it was written, and immerse myself in this whole other world. I'm really excited to get that opportunity to step outside of my world and try something new."